When most people think of astronomy, they picture someone standing outside on a sparkling clear night, gazing up at the wonders of the universe, perhaps using a telescope or binocular, or just sweeping the night sky with their eyes, taking in the view of stars, planets, the Milky Way and other natural nocturnal wonders. Indeed, a Google image search for ‘astronomy’ will bring up hundreds, even thousands, of pictures of people standing on their own, or in a small group, peering into telescopes beneath a star-dusted sky long after the rest of the world has gone to bed.
As the old joke goes, astronomy is the perfect hobby for three types of people: insomniacs, burglars and vampires. But astronomy doesn’t have to be such an anti-social pastime, and it doesn’t…
